Wings of Freedom
by Queen of Corners
Summary: Makarov is stumped when a stranger bearing his guild's mark brings news of upcoming disasters. His actions to prevent it, however, always seem to cause more harm than good. Time travel fic. Ensemble-cast. /dead
1. Hello -- Goodbye

**Author's Note** : What am I doing? I have no idea what I'm doing.

That said, I do know what I'm aiming to do. And I do know that this was born out of my recent love for Fairy Tail and practically all its characters and it was an idea I simply could not resist. I can't promise quick updates, but I can promise that I'll try. There will be no OCs, other than maybe an occasional character with a small role.

Now, one thing to note. There's a lot of time travel fics around, so this one is just going to be another time travel fic in a sea of others. Except not really. I'm trying to do something I haven't noticed others doing, and keep the nature of the story the closest I can to the manga. What is it exactly? Read on and see. And do leave feedback, please. I have no idea how I can improve if I don't at least get a few pointers.

If there's anything you want to ask, go right ahead!

Thank you for checking this story out! Have fun! :)

EDIT: Scene added. I was actually intending to throw it in as a flashback in one of the later chapters, but thought it would fit better here.

* * *

"Lucy…"

"I'm fine." Though she said that, the tear rolling down her cheek indicated otherwise. Her companion's hand shot out, retracting slightly before it made contact with her skin, then pulled back entirely.

"It's not too late," he said, voice quiet, regretful.

Lucy shook her head firmly, wiping the last traces of tears from her cheeks. She smiled, but anybody would be able to tell it was an anguished, rather than a reassuring action. "Getting cold feet now? You're the last person I'd expect that from."

"I'm just saying—"

"We have to do this," she cut him off and held out her keys. "We have to stop them, and this is the only thing we've got. If you can't, then I'll do it myself. Even if it's not enough, I'll…"

"This is the only opportunity we'll get," he said instead, the determination in his eyes enough to make her relax, if only a little. "I promise to make it work. No matter what it takes."

She nodded. Then, head snapping towards the side, she mustered all her strength.

"Yukino!"

"Lucy-sama…"

"Let's do this."

"Yes!"

The girl stepped beside her, eyes closed as she grasped Lucy's hands. Nearly dozen golden lights blasted into the air, filling in the designated space on the giant time portal, until only a single keyhole remained empty. But it was enough. It had to be. The two Celestial Spirit mages refused to let that setback stop them. At this point, no error could be afforded.

"Go!" Lucy screamed, as the portal opened, the light blinding them all.

Their ally nodded, taking the first step towards the golden radiance, as the sheer amount of power threatened to throw him backwards. "This… This is…"

"Go!" The desperate scream tore through Lucy's throat. "Don't let my younger self make the same mistake I did! Please!"

"I promise."

Tears once again spilled down Lucy's cheeks, but this time she made no attempt to wipe them away. She refused to relax, refused to let go, until she was absolutely sure he was gone, until there was no trace left of him. Finally, the light died down on its own and her hands slumped down, knees buckling, and the next moment she was on the ground, magic deficiency taking its toll. Yukino collapsed beside her, breathing ragged.

"We did it, Lucy-sama… we made it… we gave it our all… and we succeeded..."

"Y-yes," she cried, as more tears spilled on the ground. "We made it in time…"

She could tell they were there, however. Even before she saw them, she could tell they were coming. She tightened her fists, summoning the keys back in her trembling hands. With the last of her strength, she forced herself to lift off the ground.

"Lucy-sama, you're not… really intending… to fight them…" Yukino gasped, but all the same, climbed to her elbows. "You mustn't. You alone… after what happened to Erza-sama..."

Lucy shuddered, but the thought of it only gave her more strength to straighten up. And suddenly they were right there, standing right in front of them, just as threatening as they'd been the first time she'd seen them. Their eyes narrowed to slits, filled with hate, unspoken power glistening under their skin.

"Lucy Heartfilia… Yukino Agria… what have you…" The words already filled with hostility were laced with even more hatred as they took in the state of the construction behind them. "Unforgivable."

"Leave, Yukino!" she screamed, as the overwhelming power threatened to bring them both down. "This is my choice! My responsibility! My battle! You still have people you need to protect! Go!" She gripped onto her keys as if she was holding on for her dear life, refusing to be pushed down.

"Lucy-sama!"

"Just _go!_ " Gathering the last of her magic power, she gave it her all, for this was her part to play. This was her final stand. And there was no way she was going to go down without a fight.

For that was the way of Fairy Tail mages.

* * *

The town of Magnolia was truly something magnificent.

The sun had barely risen, yet the number of people in the streets was astounding, shops opening, stalls preparing for what was about to become another busy day. As if to support their efforts, the sky was perfectly clear, without even a cloud to obstruct the early morning rays of sunshine.

A lonely figure walked down the street at a steady pace, as if measuring each step carefully, counting how many more until reaching its destination. There was tension to the cloaked shoulders, and a strange sort of restlessness that might as well had been tangible. The citizen could tell, this person didn't belong. An intruder. They stared at him, as he walked past them. The dirty cloak swung with every step, slightly lifted by the gentle breeze. Almost perfectly aligned, as if done for theatrical purposes.

"One of them," a man whispered to an old lady, and suddenly it was as if a button was switched. Nobody looked twice, returning to their own business as if there was nothing at all strange about the shadowed face under the cloak covered in rips and dry blood. Perfectly normal, was the best way to describe it. Nothing worth seeing.

A small girl, not five years old, was perfectly at ease running past the mysterious figure, as if the large, gaping, blood stained hole on the cloak was not there at all. The mother, words of warning escaping her lips, slowed down at the sight of him, merely staring for a moment.

Then she bowed her head, ever so slightly, and smiled. "Good work."

The figure froze, with one foot still in the air, but the woman was already rushing back after her child, fruitlessly telling her to slow down.

Shoulders sagged, right arm slowly lifting until the hand gripped the cloak right above the nasty rip in the cloth. He could sense it under his fingertips, the additionally sewn material, right where his heart should be. A part of it was torn away in one of the scuffles, but more than enough remained to be recognizable to everybody in the city, and further.

Fairy Tail.

Under the skin of his fingers, the white cloth sewn on the black cloak burst in flames, then slowly died down, until nothing but ash remained in his hand.

And as though nothing happened at all, the shadowed individual continued his estranged journey.

* * *

"What—" the waitress froze, as her eyes landed upon the new arrival. Dirt covered dark cloak, thrown over a sleeveless shirt in what had to be the warmest day of the fall yet, with tiny rips all over, and a giant, gaping hole over the chest, as if somebody had tried to take its heart out with magic. There were sprinkles of blood all over the cloak, along with charred corners and holes that might as well had been burned into it and what little could be seen of the body was muscled and strong, with traces of scarred skin. The hood had somehow escaped undamaged, hiding most of the face in the shadows, but revealing enough to tell that the arrival could pass as a relatively young man.

Whatever fear or nervousness she might have felt at the odd sense of danger the man brought with him, something that most of the guild must have sensed given the amount of effort many of them had put into lifting their heads high enough to catch a glimpse of him, she hid it all with a smile. "What may I get you, mister?"

"The strongest you've got."

The voice was so low that she might have barely heard him over the usual background noise. His entrance alone had already drawn more than enough attention, but despite the antics, it was easy enough to see he had everybody on their toes, though the way they showed it might as well had confused anybody unfamiliar with how the cogs in the guild functioned.

The stranger showed no sign of outward nervousness however, not even as the master calmly walked along the bar to stand right beside him, somehow not looking out of place there. Almost like a decorative ornament.

The waitress sent a questioning gaze to the old man, to which he replied with an approving nod, and watched her obediently reach for the strongest drink they had available — strong enough to knock out even the biggest drinkers.

"Hard liquor, first thing in the morning? Eh, eh, eh… Youth these days. Can't even appreciate alcohol right. Just gurgle on it whenever they see fit."

His dejected shaking of the head would have in any other situation been a subject of teasing and eventually another ensuing bar brawl. Now, everybody, including the old man, seemed to have other things on their mind. Nobody did anything more than scoff, at worst, before going back to whatever discussion they'd been leading before, one ear readily taking in every information they could get on the stranger.

The mysterious figure let out a snort and despite all the efforts to suppress it, was unable to completely stop his lips from curving, a fact which the guildmaster quickly detected.

"I was given advice," he began, lightly, "to kick the door down… demand to know what year it is. Optionally, I should loudly proclaim my failure and bemoan my near miss. Return a year later, rinse and repeat."

"Oh?" Makarov Dreyar looked mildly interested. "Lost bet?"

"Last one out, so to speak."

The waitress returned, laying a small glass in front of him with a pleasant smile. "Here you go. Whiskey imported all the way from the East, a famous brewery. We're one of the few places that have it. Please, take it slo—"

The figure reached for it, cutting her off, and downed it all in one gulp, much to both her and Makarov's sputtering.

He slammed the glass on the counter. "One more."

"O-oi!" Makarov shouted. "That wasn't just any drink! We do not take kindly to customers passing out at our bar!"

"I shall keep that in mind."

For several long seconds, it was only tense silence while the girl rushed to get his order. Makarov stared at him intently, but the figure would not look away from the empty glass, what little could be seen of his face a perfect mask of calm, as if silently mocking Makarov's barely hidden curiosity. Well, two could play this game.

"There you go," the girl said, leaving the glass in front of him, smile just as perfect as before.

The figure glanced at the drink, but made no move to take it.

"So…" the stranger began, as quietly as ever. Given the hushed noises in the hall, there was no doubt a number of people could hear him. Wanted to hear him. And he was perfectly aware of it.

If anything, Makarov was staring at him even more intently. "Mmm?"

"May I take a look at the calendar?"

The question was followed by several loud snorts, snide chuckles and even a violent cough as somebody spat out the drink through their nose. Loud crash indicated that somebody had fallen out of the chair, an event followed by a round of laughter and what seemed to be the beginning of the first brawl for the morning.

For his part, the old man just spluttered. "What?! You still going on about that?"

The stranger shrugged. As if that somehow excused everything.

With an annoyed huff, Makarov said, "September 25th, X780. There, I played along. Now it's your turn."

This time, the stranger did reach for the glass. Maybe he was just that desperate for an excuse and alcohol induced lunacy was as good as any.

"I see," he said, slowly. "It appears I was too late after all. Well, there was little hope to begin with."

Makarov gave him the longest, driest look he could, hopefully making it perfectly clear he was having none of this. If it weren't for the fact the man's mere presence had that something that left him nervous and restless, he wouldn't have bothered to begin with.

Slamming the empty glass back on the counter, the visitor let out a quiet yawn, which he quickly hid with the back of his hand. The move itself was rushed, kinda wobbly and made it clear the strong alcohol was beginning to take effect. The hood turned back towards Makarov, though the most he could see was the lower lip moving.

"Don't judge. This is the last drink I'll willingly take, so might as well make it worth something."

"That kind of attitude gives off some pretty negative vibes, you know," Makarov informed him.

The stranger shrugged, hand reaching under the cloak.

To say everybody in the room was on high alert would be an understatement of the century. Out of dozen plus guild members, there were perhaps two who had not focused their attention on him, just daring him to make any rushed moves. Nobody was particularly worried, since everyone knew damn well that Makarov Dreyar could take care of himself way better than any one of them, but it was merely a matter of pride. Nobody walked into their guild to cause trouble and got out unscathed.

The figure smiled, lifting off the cloak just enough so for Makarov to see the mark etched in his shoulder.

"Make no mistake," the man said, before the aged guildmaster could do much more than stare. "I'm no enemy."

"I suggest we move this conversation to my office," Makarov said, with a sharp edge to his voice that normally would have had anyone at least a little bit nervous.

The visitor, however, showed no signs of being affected in the slightest as he nodded respectfully, then gestured at the emptied glass of what had more or less been liquefied poison. "Of course. As soon as I'm able to stand straight."

Makarov snorted, all the tension melting from his shoulders. Obviously, that guildmark was no joke. "That's what you get for drinking so early in the morning. Oi, one large breakfast here. The lad looks like he hasn't eaten anything in awhile."

"Of course. Coming right up!" the waitress replied with a grin, visibly more at ease now that the master himself seemed to be taking the situation only half-seriously.

The figure let out a long sigh. "I'm fine."

"Shut it. Skipping meals ain't good for anyone's health. Any preferences? Our food choice here may be limited, but we have something for everybody. Which I'd guess you're already aware of."

Head lowered slightly, but more than enough to hide the entirety of the stranger's face. Voice was even lower, grudgingly obedient. "Yeah, I know. Anything's fine."

"Hear that?" Makarov shouted. "Make it extra large!"

"Yes, sir!"

For several moments, there was silence. The figure kept its head low, focused on the empty glass, his voice hesitant as he spoke.

"How'd you… no, never mind."

Makarov raised an eyebrow, arms resting behind his back. "With my age, you quickly recognize the signs. When was your last meal? Three days ago? Four?"

"Close enough," the stranger murmured.

"And first thing you get is booze. Why am I not surprised?" Makarov rolled his eyes. "Now, I know I said this is a conversation to be finished in the office, but I do believe there is one thing you can tell me."

"Oh?" The figure glanced towards the guildmaster, not bothering to hide either restlessness or amusement.

"Your name."

At that, he let out a brief, mirthless chuckle. "Ah, that."

Makarov's eyes narrowed a fraction. "Yes, that. Any objections?"

The smile lingered as the man played with his glass. "No, not really. First, may I ask something as well?"

Makarov regarded him suspiciously. "Go ahead."

"May I get some rest here? This was a long journey, and sleep was a luxury I couldn't afford."

"Well, I suppose—oi! Don't just fall asleep on the counter! I told you we don't take kindly to our customers passing out!"

The figure hummed in agreement, sound rebounding off the hardwood as his forehead hit the counter. Hand rummaging around on the inner side of his coat, he said, "I'll answer any questions you have later."

Makarov glanced at the piece of paper handed to him and straightened it, unimpressed.

"And your name?"

"Meir."

"Just Meir?" he grumbled. "Doesn't sound familiar to me."

Even in the shadows of the hood, Makarov could still see traces of a curved lip as the man shifted on the bar to use his arms as impromptu pillows. "Of course it wouldn't. I just thought of it." And with that, he turned away, the shift followed by the sound of quiet snores. Leaving him there like that was a poor solution, obviously, but there wasn't much that could be done, when poking on the shoulder resulted in not even a stir.

"Want a bucket of water, gramps?" Laxus asked from the side, lazy yawn escaping his lips even as he stretched his limbs. How long he'd been standing there was anyone's guess, but at this point the guildmaster had absolutely more pressing issues to deal with.

"Not yet. I did agree to let him rest."

"Um… sir?" The waitress gestured at the sleeping form. "What do I do about breakfast?"

"Let me know when you finish it. I'll kick him awake if I have to."

"Understood."

Makarov focused back on the note. "Hmph. As if something like this would make up for anything." The piece of paper looked like it had been crumpled at some point, carelessly ripped out of a notebook, words scrawled a hurry, and there had to be at least two different handwritings. It followed a pattern of sorts, with a year and several words written in readable red ink. Around them was a whole number of scrawled black abbreviations and notes that were more or less impossible to decipher.

It was the readable content, however, that quickly had Makarov's undivided attention.

 _X784 The Tower of Heaven_

That alone was enough to warrant caution, but it were the notes around it that really made his stomach turn, at least what little he could decipher.

 _-preferably X776_  
 _-Whatever you do, Etherion MUST NOT fire_  
 _-Erza will beat you up_

Given the notorious reputation the magical cannon had and the fact that approval for its use required almost unanimous consent of the Council, Makarov had to wonder what could possibly have happened to warrant its use. It was telling, however, that Etherion soon became the least of his concerns.

 _X784 Nirvana_

 _-Wendy! Wendy! Wendy!_  
 _-don't you dare think 'it might be of use'_  
 _-once more for good measure - NO_

The last word was underlined twice, circled and it even had a tiny x to mark it as important. Makarov idly wondered just what kind of people he was dealing with here. This certainly lacked the kind of professionalism he'd expect from an organized time-travel operation aiming to stop the firing of Etherion, of all things.

 _X784 Edolas_

 _-could be trouble, not much we can do_  
 _-see with Mystogan if you can warn everybody beforehand_  
 _-no funny ideas_  
 _-goes for him too_

Okay, maybe some of this time traveling shtick the man was hinting at had some merit, other than the obvious. Very few people knew of Mystogan at all, let alone anything about him. Hmm… maybe he could ask around a little.

 _X784 Tenrou and Acnologia_

 _-at least stop the time jump?_  
 _-on second thought, avoid at all costs_  
 _-you can look for Zeref tho_

That had to be the most shocking part of all, however. Glancing over confirmed more text on the other side, but Makarov ignored it. After this, he didn't know what to think.

"On second thought, how about you get me one of those as well?" he said, gesturing towards the empty glass, resting inches away from the Fairy Tail's alleged survivor from the future.

This was clearly an elaborate plan of some sort, with at least two known participants, likely both from his very own guild. Clearly something big enough happened to warrant time traveling, and given that it had Zeref, Acnologia and Tenrou in the same section, Makarov found the underlying logic to actually be sound. He'd need to work on deciphering the rest soon, but for now, he pushed the paper in his pocket. Only to look up and find the girl staring.

"Master?" she asked, round eyes blinking very, very slowly. "Are you sure about that drink?"

He shrugged. "It looks like I'll have a busy day ahead."

With that said, he walked over until he was standing right in front of the self-professed time traveler going by the name of Meir — seriously what kind of a name was that to begin with? Silly child clearly had no naming sense whatsoever. Carefully, he aimed a fist, perfectly lining it up with the point where the center of his forehead should be.

"Oi, gramps!" Laxus called in alarm

"I assure you, this is perfectly justified."

Sparing a quick flexing of his shoulders, he let the enlarged fist fly, elongating the limb at speeds few would associate with the diminutive old man. Newcomer landed on the floor in a battered heap, flailing and spluttering, as he tried to clumsily straighten up and identify what kind of force was it that had quite literally punched him out of his drunken stupor.

His attempt to question it quickly devolved into a belated coughing fit.

Makarov put his arms on his hips. "Rise and shine, stripling! Nap time is over!"

"Sir?" The newcomer sounded genuinely confused. If the issue weren't so serious, Makarov might have found it hilarious, that a big and scary mage from the future had for a moment let out a sound similar to a terrified child. That, and the fact that the silly hood had stayed in place as if it was somehow glued to the youth's forehead.

"You've got lots to explain. Finish the breakfast and come. There will be time for rest later."

Few seconds passed in silence, as the man slowly picked himself up and settled back on the chair. "Yessir," he murmured under his breath. Makarov nearly missed the smile on the youth's face, though this time it had a bit of an embarrassed quality to it. Though this time, he noticed something else as well.

While the hood had stayed in place, for the most part, it did also reveal a little more of the newcomer's face. Close to where the subtle smile started, near the right corner of his lip, skin stretched unnaturally, consequence of a burn scar of some sort, rising upwards into the shadows of the hood. How far it went was anyone's guess.

Well, that explained it. Makarov straightened his back.

"Meir, was it?"

He noticed the crouched shoulders tense at his grand tone, as Makarov spoke at the top of his voice, with the purpose of getting the attention of the party in question, as well as everybody else in the vicinity. Youth gave a small nod, even as he unwillingly left the food that had been placed in front of him moments ago aside, if only to focus on the guildmaster. Makarov nodded back, resting his arms behind his back solemnly and assuring himself that he'd made the right choice and that he wasn't jumping the gun just yet. Then, in loud, measured voice, he began his announcement.

"You have come to the right place, young traveler. No matter how far your journey takes you, no matter what enemies and difficulties you may face , from this point onward, you have but one duty. Believe! Believe in the comrades that guard your back. Believe in the place, the home, you can now always return to. But most importantly, believe in yourself and the bonds that tie you to your friends, and you will never be lost again.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail."


	2. The Tower of Heaven - Formation

**Author's Note** : Thank you so much for following this, guys! Let me know if there are any errors, it's been a while. Proofreading is all well and nice but I was a bit impatient with this so I might have missed something.

* * *

There was much to be said about Fairy Tail as a guild, and the caliber of people that tended to join. The guild was fairly infamous, at least in Magnolia and surroundings, as a rowdy bunch of talented mages with more pride than common sense and a knack for causing property damage wherever they went. Especially as of late, ever since mages such as Natsu had started taking on official jobs, the notorious reputation had become something so mundane that nobody aside from the officials really cared anymore, inside the guild or out.

As it turned out, it went even for those times when shady characters suddenly decided to join.

And as it happened, the prime example of a shady character was Mystogan. Being welcomed with open arms wasn't exactly the right way to put it, but nobody had blinked twice after he had become a member, even if he had put everybody in the guild to sleep even before officially introducing himself, and continued to do so with every next visit. Even after months, he'd remained the biggest unknown in the guild, going so far to cast spells which had the rowdiest and loudest group of people all hunched over tables and chairs, in some of the weirdest poses people had ever witnessed, lightly snoring, in the middle of the day. All that, with the objective to hide his identity, for whatever reason.

Since the guildmaster approved, the rest of the guild did as well, and Mystogan had never gone out of his way to antagonize anyone, except maybe Laxus, but everybody pissed off Laxus in some way. That said, random sleepiness was becoming rather annoying.

The award for the newest, shadiest character to ever join without even a proper hello, belonged to Meir, hands down, who had joined the guild little over twenty four hours ago under dubious circumstances at best, with a story so unbelievable that any lesser man would have called him out on his bullshit within seconds. Makarov Dreyar had, instead, listened to his story in its entirety, taking the time to consider it, point out the gaping holes in the logic size of a continent, and ultimately allowed him to do whatever Meir himself decided to do. All of that, after proclaiming him a Fairy Tail mage.

Normally, something like this would represent no issue. Even though most of the guild was by now more or less aware that the new arrival had come from the future, nobody had yet inquired as to what kind of future. They were lying in wait, suspecting that the stranger would be less than happy to provide information, but that didn't stop a guild-wide bet on the truthfulness of his words.

All that came to a stop, however, when the self-proclaimed time traveler, who had allegedly set out to fix the past mistakes that had ultimately brought ruin to the guild and the world, began his designated mission to save the future of the world.

By making Erza Scarlet cry.

The senior members, the new members, literally anybody who had been in the guild longer than a day, knew exactly what kind of person Erza was. Serious. Dignified. A little wacky, but nobody would ever hold that against her. Barely fifteen, but more than capable to beat the living devil out of a number of people far bigger and stronger than her.

It was notable that nobody, not a single soul, had ever seen Erza Scarlet upset. Always sticking to her own little corner, always taking everything seriously, passionately. Nothing ever managed to throw her off course so badly, tick her off so much that she didn't even resort to physical violence as a natural solution to the problem. Until now.

What was it exactly that Meir had done was something that nobody, not even those who were present at the time, would be able to answer. But what the entirety of the guild knew was that he'd approached her. He'd spoken to her. And nobody had seen Erza ever looking so rigid as during the time she'd spent conversing with him, her replies so short and concise, one might had suspected her to be livid.

Then she'd punched the wall, leaving a decently sized hole that had stunned everybody. Loudly, she'd denied connection to whatever it was that Meir had addressed, and stormed out of the guild.

"Irritated much?" Mirajane had asked, hands on hips, with her usual air of superiority. Erza had walked past her, not even registering her presence, a fact that irked the other girl to no end.

"Somethin' happen, Erza?" Macao had wondered, but if the young mage had noticed, she'd shown no sign of it.

Ultimately, at the very doorway, her shoulder violently collided with Natsu.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" he'd yelled, then froze in place as recognition settled in. "O-oh, hi, E-Erza…"

Erza had only briefly noticed him, stopping for merely a moment. "Oh, sorry." Then she'd stormed away even faster, leaving the young Dragon Slayer in a state of ultimate confusion, as the scolding he'd expected never came.

"You okay, Natsu?" Macao had asked, just as Meir rushed past the kid, too.

In his typically oblivious way, he'd shaken it off with a laugh. "Yeah." Then he'd scratched his head, looking a little confused. "Say, does anyone know why was Erza crying?"

At first, there was only silence.

"Cryin'?" Wakaba repeated.

"Yeah. You didn't notice?"

From there, it spread like wildfire.

Ultimately, Meir only had himself to blame for the endless pain that lied in wait. For Fairy Tail forgave nobody who made Erza Scarlet cry.

Rumors later said, that for the rest of the day, Meir had been sitting on the river bank. A shell of human being, somebody had called him. Hadn't moved in hours. Others claimed they saw him reading through some sketchy notebooks in a rush. Ritual, they'd surmised, but nobody thought even the vilest ritual could save him from the imminent pain. What the guild finally agreed on, was that by the time sun slowly began to descend in late afternoon, Meir had been found near the riverbank, several small notebooks opened around him.

His focus seemed to be on the flowing water, barely registering anybody that may had walked past him.

That lasted until Natsu kicked him in the forehead so hard, it sent the man flying uphill, yelling at the top of his voice, "FIGHT ME!"

Meir landed on his back with a gasp, hood lifting only so much to show that his lips were moving.

The young Dragon Slayer came to a stop beside him, eye twitching. "What the hell are you murmuring about? I won't understand a word you're saying if you don't slow it down."

Meir remained simply lying, showing no sign of hearing a word of what Natsu had said, not even moving from where he'd landed sprawled over the grass, lost in whatever prison of thoughts that had set his mouth on autopilot. For his part, Natsu more or less wanted to pull his own hair out and maybe land a couple more kicks. This guy was supposed to be strong, damn it.

"Aargh! Stop whining and fight me! Nobody gets to make Erza cry and walk past me!"

Finally, Meir seemed to acknowledge him. "You—"

Sound of cracking fists resonated over the silent bank. Icicles slowly began to form on the grass tips.

"That's my line."

Natsu's head snapped to the other side so fast, it was just short of a miracle his neck didn't snap in two. "Oi, Gray! What the hell are you doing here? This guy is mine!" Focusing back on the immovable object of the conversation, he added, "And you stop that already! Beating up somebody who ain't fighting back is no fun!"

"Out of my way, Natsu," Gray growled, looking very much willing to start another fight if necessary, but for the moment, he prioritized the mysterious addition. "Get up! I don't know what you did, but Erza's not in her right mind, so I'm going to beat the hell out of you and make you fix it!"

That, finally, seemed to snap the newcomer out of whatever train of thought he'd been lost in. Slowly, he pushed himself into a sitting position, "Natsu, Gray—"

"Here I go!"

—right in time for Gray's fist to connect with the middle of his forehead.

The head whipped back, but other than that, he showed no sign of the punch doing any damage to him whatsoever.

"That's it," he whispered, audibly enough for Gray and, by extension, Natsu, to hear. Not that the latter cared.

"Hey, stay out of it, ice bastard! He's mine to beat up!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The Ice Make mage grumbled, pulling his fist back, then aiming to land another hit. Meir easily ducked under it, and with even less effort blocked the ensuing punch from Natsu, firmly holding his fist in place even as the teen tried to pull back.

"I'll need your help," he announced, as if the two hadn't just attacked him moments ago.

"To hell with that! You don't just barge in here and make somebody cry!"

"I told you to get out of my way, Natsu!"

Two separate attacks, aimed for the tall, stationary figure, ended with Natsu's fist digging into Gray's cheek, while the latter's knee struck Natsu's stomach.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Me?! What are you doing, stupid icicle?! Don't barge into my fights!"

The fistfight that happened as a result, finished when Meir grabbed both of them by the elbow, twisting it to an angle from which all they could do was uselessly dangle their fists, both at Meir and each other. The hooded figure let out an exasperated sigh. "Where is Erza?"

"Hell if I know!" Gray grumbled. "She literally ignored me for ten minutes straight, walked into a closed door and apologized to a freakin' cockroach! You started it so you're going to fix it!"

"Huuuh? What are you doing? Put me down!" No amount of Natsu's kicking and screaming, however, showed results. "Oi, let me go! Let! Me! Go!"

Meir hissed. "I need to find Erza."

He didn't, however, count that Gray would so easily slip out of his grip. "Ice Make: Fist!"

Natsu's response was immediate. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The ensuing explosion knocked both parties on the ground. Meir remained standing, only the cloth over his arm and front of his cloak showing any signs of damage, revealing the scarred skin beneath. Sitting on the ground, the Ice element mage took it all in, more than a little surprised, until the oblivious teen snapped him out of it.

"What the hell, Gray? What was that for?" Natsu picked himself off the ground, fists at the ready. "Looking for a fight, are you?!"

Gray was up just as quickly. "You were in the way, flame brain! Next time don't get caught, moron!"

"You were the one who got caught first, moron!"

"I got away, unlike somebody!"

"I got away too!"

"Umm… Natsu, Gray..."

They both turned, ready to snap at yet another person, when Happy pointed somewhere behind them as he came to land on Natsu's head. "Your target is gone."

The Dragon Slayer screamed in frustration. "Aaaagh! Where'd he go?! He was here a second ago!"

"It's your fault we lost sight of him!" Gray roared back. "Where the hell did he go?!"

Happy let out a light sigh. "It's just a guess, but he's probably gone back to the guild."

"Thanks, Happy!" Natsu yelled.

"Yeah, thanks!" Gray shouted.

"You're welcome… Also, Gray! Your clothes."

"ACK!" When exactly had he taken the rest off?

* * *

As it turned out, Meir really had gone to the guild. The two had caught up with him on the way out, and he hadn't even stopped to take a look at them as he said, "Come with me."

Gray and Natsu remained standing in place, dumbfounded, for a long moment.

"Now."

"The hell do you want?" the Dragon Slayer grumbled.

Happy poked Natsu on the shoulder. "Aren't you letting him go?"

"O-oh, right! Let's go, Happy!"

"Aye sir!"

Gray hissed something under his breath, but nevertheless, they hurried, making sure not to lose him in the streets. One look was what took for them to understand that he was following the distant armored figure in the sunny street, red braided hair swinging from one side to the other.

"Erza?" The Ice-Make mage mumbled in confusion. After that, there was no hesitation. They caught up with him in seconds.

Erza was marching away, looking downright livid, from what little Natsu and Gray could see of her face. However, even as they got closer, Meir made no attempt to call out to her. As a matter of fact, he was deathly silent, until he finally hurried up ahead of them all, then stopped in place, right in front of Erza.

If anybody from the side had been watching it play out, they would have seen a dark, cloaked figure, cutting in the way and towering over a group of defiant adolescents. Hardly a usual sight.

In response to Meir, Erza held out a hand, materializing a sword to go with her armor. "I have nothing to say to you."

The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife. The redhead was staring him down like a young girl should have no job doing, and despite the hood, it was easy enough to tell that Meir's focus was entirely on her as well. Two invisible eyes, carefully watching every twitch of her muscles.

Natsu and Gray came to a stop as well, muscles twitching.

"I'll admit, I've made a mistake," Meir began what sounded like a sincere apology, one that only further infuriated Erza.

"A mistake—?"

"In my approach, yes," he cut her off. "Truth is, I can't reveal how I know of it, not yet, I'm not too sure you would believe me even if I could. However, it's a fact that the Tower of Heaven needs to be stopped at earliest possible opportunity, before it truly becomes something irreparable."

Erza's wrist twitched slightly. "I don't know what—"

Meir cut her off mercilessly. "You're the only one who knows for sure where it's located."

At that, the sword hissed through the air, stopping inches away from his skin. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The shaking of Erza's voice was something so alien, and so noticeable, that not even Natsu and Gray had issues realizing it was such a flimsy and desperate lie, possibly her last line of defense. Meir lowered his head, enough so that the steel might as well had been touching his skin.

"I'm aware of the circumstances," he said, voice low. "You're not supposed to talk, you're not allowed to. But except for you who are now present here, nobody else knows I'm aware of it. Erza… There is nothing either you or I can do on our own, not about this. You already know what I'm offering in return. We have to do this."

She grit her teeth, but the eye that wasn't hidden under the bangs was watery.

Meir took a deep breath. One could see the moment he realized he was on to something, the way his shoulders relaxed, his posture changed, as he slowly removed the blade from his chin, then reached out, offering his hand. "You or I alone have no power to achieve anything. However, with Fairy Tail we can end it, once and for all. That much I can promise. We can destroy the Tower of Heaven."

Her hand began shaking.

"Erza—!"

"Oi!"

She let out a half scream, coming to realize who else was present when she turned. "Natsu! Gray!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" Gray growled.

"Ah, no— I-I—"

"Seriously," Natsu grumbled. "Don't make us force it out of you. What is going on?"

She hesitated, her hand shaking once again, before the sword disappeared altogether. She turned to Meir, fixing him with a glare that would have frozen anybody else on spot. "You planned this."

It wasn't even a question, just accusation made out of anger, but based on solid facts. Meir offered a careless shrug. "You're not alone. I needed you to realize that."

"You're involving people who have nothing to do with this."

"Maybe so, but we'll need their help. And even then, four people simply isn't going to be enough."

"That is no—"

"Enough for what, exactly?" Natsu demanded, cutting off all of Erza's objections.

"Yeah. Don't go thinking we'd just run into any random mess, just because you want us to," Gray added, lifting a fist. "That said, there's no way we'd let Erza go alone, either."

Meir lifted his arms in another lazy shrug, once more drawing eyes to the deeply scarred skin barely hidden by the damaged cloth. "Well, either you go, or you don't. I'd prefer you to come, honestly, but that isn't something I can force you to do. Neither is it something Erza can stop you from doing."

She didn't look all too pleased with that, given the way she bit her lip. Rather than complain, however, she turned her head away, as if silently cursing the words before even saying them out loud.

"Then, that other promise…"

It was so quiet, so grudging. Like she didn't even want the words to be heard.

Meir nodded, his own voice just as quiet. "I made a promise. Even if it's the last thing I do."

She remained silent for a long moment, indecision slowly leaving her features as she straightened her posture, renewing her determination, as she fixed her stare on the two boys, fists shaking at her sides. "I'm… truly sorry. But, can I rely on you, for this? I promise that I'll explain properly, later."

The two stared.

"H-hey… um…" Natsu started, voice uncertain. "Did… did _Erza_ just ask for help?"

"I… am not sure. I think we must be dreaming."

"Y-yeah. There's no way Erza would ever ask for our help."

Gray nodded urgently. "Yeah. No way. Ever."

"Take this seriously, idiots!" she snapped.

"R-right!" they squeaked.

She looked away from them, letting out a soft sight. "It's alright, of course, if you choose not to come. This… isn't something I can—"

"Che, as if you'd even have to ask," Gray interrupted her. "I'd be pissed if you tried to do something stupid on your own."

"Yeah. Besides, it sounds like we'll have to fight somebody, and I'm always up for that, right, Happy?" Natsu grinned at his tiny companion.

"Aye sir!"

Erza's features softened and warmed up, slowly, as she seemingly brushed away whatever remnants of uncertainty and indecision remained. "Thank you." Turning towards Meir with the kind of pride and confidence that had over time become her trademark, she narrowed her eyes, taking his hand in a firm handshake. Tiny smile spread over what was visible of Meir's face.

"Well, then…" she said. "I will take you there. I will lead you to the Tower of Heaven.

"No matter what it takes."

* * *

 _'No matter what it takes…'_

Well… That was what she'd said. And she didn't intend to go back on her word. But when she had arrived at the agreed meeting spot the following day, she had to rethink her decision, at least a little.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, leveling Meir with an accusatory glance.

Natsu and Gray were in the middle of an argument, not even registering her arrival, with Happy cheering Natsu on from the sidelines. Mira was sitting on the nearby fence, heavily engrossed in her own nails, sending smug looks her way whenever she thought Erza wasn't watching, as if she'd actually won something over her, a fact which irked the other girl immensely. And ultimately, there was Laxus, leaning against the wall, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else, something that Erza herself wouldn't have minded too much at the moment.

"Ahh… about this," Meir said, and if she was right, he sounded a little apologetic. "When I brought this up with the master, he was indignant we take somebody strong with us. Uh… Mirajane… well, volunteered."

"Oh."

"Problem, Erza?" the girl asked, smugly.

It took a lot of energy not to explode right then and there. Of all the people, Mirajane was not the one she'd want to be present, not on a mission like this, even though it was undeniable that the girl had immense power. But even more than that, she found Laxus' presence to be the most game-changing factor of all.

"And you?" she asked, a little bit more accusatory than she'd intended.

Laxus barely spared her a glance. "Just making sure you brats don't accidentally sully our name or something. Our reputation is bad enough as it is."

Meir let out a sigh of the kind where Erza couldn't decide if he was pleased with the turn of events or exasperated. Dangling a couple papers, he announced. "We took some requests to handle along the way. We'll need the funds."

"I see."

"You guys ready?"

Various confirmations came from her companions, from Natsu's excited and eager exclamation, to Laxus' sullen agreement.

Erza looked at them, unsure of what was that strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Regardless, this was something she had to do. Getting others involved was almost unthinkable. However she'd agreed with this, in a moment of weakness, and it had so much at stake. This was her battle, and she couldn't allow herself to crumble.

Clenching her fists, she nodded, turning towards the horizon that lay in her path.

"Yes. Let us go… to the Tower of Heaven."


	3. The Tower of Heaven - Ebullience

There were bad days, when even getting up in the morning felt like more like torture than it ever had right being, and then there were awful days. This had to rank even worse than that, somewhere between absolutely dreadful and technically nightmarish, as far as Laxus was concerned. It was nothing new, exactly, but he was beginning to learn thoroughly well just what kind of idiots he was surrounded by, when it had somehow fallen upon him to be the physical wall separating Natsu and Gray, even as their fists tried to dangle around his arms.

For brief enough moment, he'd been a bit worried they might come at him at the same time, but whatever had happened this time had to have pissed them off enough they were willing to ignore him in favor of beating up each other. Well, that was a first. It still sucked though, as far as Laxus was concerned.

As it happened, though, that was hardly the worst of it.

He may had been keeping Natsu and Gray in check, but that ultimately meant there was nobody to keep Erza and Mirajane from going at each other's throat, which was exactly what they seemed to be doing at the moment, with gusto.

"Nobody asked you to come here in the first place, stupid!"

"Stupid? Who are you calling stupid, Scarlet? No way I'd ever let you get one up on me 'cause of a secret mission, dumbass!"

"This was never a competition in the first place!"

Well, it sure as hell was now.

Laxus let out a long suffering sigh. Perhaps the only thing potentially good about the whole situation was the fact that they, at least, weren't trying to take the rest of Hargeon along with them. Yet.

Meir, being the responsible adult he was, was taking his time walking, eyes going over the small bundle of job requests, examining each and every single one carefully, not even batting an eyelash at the ongoing onslaught. Obviously, he was still lost in whatever world he'd come from, because he hadn't registered, or had intentionally ignored, that Natsu and Gray had successfully destroyed a food stall without even resorting to magic, and the 35000 Jewel repair bill was still hanging halfway out of Laxus' back pocket. A part of him just wanted to burn the damn thing.

"Alright," Meir said, after some time, stopping in the middle of a small square, drawing many curious glances from the onlookers. Or rather Mira and Erza were.

"I'll win, you stupid runt!"

"Stop calling me stupid, skank!"

"What? You have got to have something better than that in your arsenal, idiot!"

It was Meir's turn to let out a sigh, although what Laxus heard sounded more amused than frustrated by a long shot. He cleared his throat, drawing both girls' attention. Mira still took her precious time to huff and cross her arms, looking very much like she didn't even want to be there, which Laxus was sure was in fact the case. How big of a pride issue did she even have? And why was he the one who had to deal with the consequences?

He dropped his grip on Natsu and Gray, when he established the two of them had grudgingly started listening, if only because Meir had made it clear all the way back at the start of the journey that if they made a mess, he wasn't going to give them a job. Even if they had been the ones to pick them. Heck, they'd picked every single one. And they had made a mess. A huge, 35000 jewel mess.

And Meir still looked like he was about to give them a field day with it, too. Laxus was surprisingly annoyed by the fact.

"Good," he said, after a moment. "We're going to have to split up."

Oh, finally.

"No shit, Sherlock,." Laxus grunted. "I ain't going anywhere with these two ugly brats even if you pay me."

"Wanna go Laxus?" Natsu jumped immediately.

Meir let out another long suffering sigh, exchanging a look with Laxus, before focusing on Natsu and finally on the sparks flying between the two girls.

"Natsu, Erza!" he called, handing over a request to the redhead as soon as she snapped to attention. "I leave this to you. We'll meet here at sunset. Keep the damage to a minimum."

"Yosh!" Natsu exclaimed, whatever was left of that annoying anger directed Laxus' way dissipating immediately. "Let's go, Erza, Happy! I'm fired up!" She didn't even get a chance to yelp as he ran off, leaving her behind in the dust.

"Wait, Natsu!"

"Me too! Natsu, you're too fast!" Happy shouted, giving up on running in favor of spreading a pair of wings. That never stopped being amusing. Not that Laxus would ever admit it.

"Hurry!"

Gray tsked as they disappeared in the distance, much to Laxus' ire.

"What?" he demanded, eyes narrowed. His patience was wearing thin and he didn't need another short tempered brat to deal with.

"Asking for a fight?" Gray hissed back, lifting a fist

"You're ten years too early to be picking a fight with me, brat."

"Okay, enough," Meir said, before handing out a paper each to Gray, Laxus and a disgruntled Mira. "We have to finish all these today, or we'll be sleeping on the streets for the night. I'm pretty sure none of you want that."

"Ugh," Mira groaned, glancing over at her piece of paper. "Part-time entertainer for a birthday party? Seriously?"

"Deal with it. If ya ain't got it in you, might as well just quit being a mage."

"What was that, Laxus? Want me to bust your ass?" she snapped.

"Go right for it. If you dare."

"You do it if you're so big and important!" she yelled back, then bit her lip, as if the words were out before she'd really thought about it. "Still… the money is… wow, twelve thousand… What kind of rich bastards are these guys?"

"Mira," Meir called, voice only slightly more impatient than the usual calm and level monotone. "Are you taking it or not?"

She sent an icy glare Laxus' way. He almost stuck out his tongue at her and bragged about his mission being bringing down a group of local bandits, tough ones at that. Well, mages. Hopefully they weren't too weak, cause the reward wasn't all that much and he kind of wanted to keep the seventy thousand Jewel for himself.

"I'll take it," she decided in the end, sharply turning away. "But boy~ all the things I can do with twelve thousand jewel! And all I have to do is entertain a couple brats with my magic! Piece of cake!"

She hummed under her breath as she walked away, skipping occasionally.

Laxus had to resist the urge to laugh.

"I have a feeling I just unleashed a demon," Meir uttered under his breath.

Ignoring the giddiness building up inside, Laxus snorted. Oh, sure as hell he unleashed a demon. But whoever had the kind of money to pay twelve thousand for a birthday party might as well deal with the consequences. That was not Laxus' problem.

"Well, I'm going," Gray said, after a moment, but the scowl on his face could only be there because he got the short straw. He hesitated for a moment, before throwing a quick glance towards Meir, then back at the paper. "Got nothing better?"

 _Bingo_.

Meir shrugged. "You picked those."

"Right. At least it's not a freakin' birthday party."

With that, he trotted off, leaving only Laxus and Meir behind on the sunny square. The cloaked man shifted. "Need something?"

Laxus' eyes narrowed slightly, sensitive ears trying to detect any kind of emotion in the strangely serene voice, but there was nothing suspicious, as much as he would've liked to claim otherwise. It's not like either one of them wanted Laxus to be here in the first place. Laxus, for one, had only just picked out a perfect mission for the newly established Raijinshuu, but no, gramps had to put it all on him, to keep watch on the time-traveling bastard. Or 'look out for the brats', as the old man had put it. To hell with it all.

For Meir's part, he'd merely nodded when gramps had suggested bringing Laxus along, remaining perfectly neutral all the way through. It was goddamn annoying. But he'd already made that clear, so he wasn't about to complain about stupid things again.

"That thirty five thousand bill?" Laxus mumbled instead, arms crossed, the remainder of unprovoked destruction still weighing on his ass, and quite literally at that.

"Oh. That." Under that cloak, there was no reaction he could see and all he had was the voice to go by. And as it happened, the voice betrayed not a hint of whatever it's owner had been thinking.

Laxus was suddenly feeling a whole lot more annoyed.

"Yes. That. And for the record, I ain't giving my money."

Meir remained silent for the moment, and Laxus hoped that somewhere in those dumb shadows of his, he was actually coming up with a plan of some kind. Then, "... Do you think we can get an installment plan?"

 _What the—?_

"This isn't a loan, goddamn it!"

Meir flinched, and that had to be the first sign of anything he'd shown discomfort with over the entire day. Laxus decided to file it somewhere in the back of his head. Randomly breaking into fits of rage gauged reactions. Could be of use in the future.

Voice remained as neutral as possible, much to his irritation.

"Sorry. This is the first in a long time I had to actually worry about money. Kind of."

Laxus glared. "You have got to be kidding."

"No. Running for my life took precedence, I suppose. That said, I do have contingency plans."

"Oh yeah?"

"... Yes." If his hesitation had told him anything, it was that Meir was well aware of just how short Laxus' fuse was, and especially so in this case.

"Good for ya, cause I ain't going back home with a thirty five grand debt on my back." Then he turned and stalked away. He had money to earn and some assholes to beat.

* * *

"Hihi… hihihihi!"

The smile on Mira's face was threatening to split her face in two, as she skipped around town, occasionally taking a quick whiff of the wad of cash she'd received for a job well done. And it had been so easy.

God, the family was so loaded. Huge, cliff side house. Absolutely brilliant decorations. Private beach. There couldn't have been a better place for a birthday party.

Well, the brats were kind of annoying, but they'd stopped acting like snotty little pieces of shit after she'd broken out her first piece of magic. No, they had just been staring, at that point. Asking for more. Begging. And of course they got it.

The terrified screams were the music for her ears. She'd even gone out of her way to chase the rich, fat birthday boy, in the scariest demon form she could remember. Losing some extra weight was about as nice of a present she could get him, after all, the poor little brat. The look on his face was glorious and she had never felt better, running around in her part demon form, throwing around dumbest threats she could think of and gloriously tickling them with her claws. The brats were in tears by the time she was done, and they'd had eventually gotten over their initial terror, if the hugs they'd tried to give her were any indication.

Unfortunately, the parents were a lot less amusing to deal with, and just the thought of it made her scowl. It wasn't her fault adults couldn't appreciate good fun. But hey, at least they'd spit out the hefty sum she'd come for, otherwise she might have really gone and been scary.

"Mmm… wonder what I should do with this?" she mumbled, playing with the bundle once again. "Souvenirs for Elfman and Lisanna, of course… maybe I could also buy those matching shirts I saw… Oh! Oh! Lisanna also wanted that stuffed bear, so…"

She trailed off as an explosion echoed in the distance, the smoke rising so high she had no problem seeing it despite all the huge buildings in her surroundings.

"What's going on?" an elder lady asked at the nearest stall, words being exactly what Mira herself had wanted to ask.

"Fairy Tail again?" a local merchant groaned, burying his head in his palms. "Haven't they done enough for today?"

"Hey!" Mira protested, about ready to throw a punch, because _that_ was uncalled for. They hadn't done anything at all! Unless if Natsu or Gray had gone and wrecked something again, then that was not her issue, but it still irked her that some big unknown fatass was talking smack about her guild like that.

Whatever she might have done about it, though, no longer mattered when another explosion echoed, this time much closer.

"We have a problem!" a girl, not much older than Mira, exclaimed as she ran from the direction of where the trouble was brewing. "It's Ghoul Spirit, again!"

" _What_? Isn't this the third time for the month? What do they want?"

"I don't know, but they're engaged in battle! Spread the news!"

And the townsfolk proceeded to do so, while Mira remained standing in place, eyes following the trails of smoke as they rose in the sky. She felt somebody grab her elbow before she saw it, too entranced to notice for the moment.

"Let's go!" the girl shouted, snapping her out of the thought and urging her to move, when another explosion echoed, just a few streets away, this time followed by a loud thunder, which made her wonder for a moment what the exact cause could have been.

Mira stared, ignoring the hurried tugs on her arm, face scrunched in confusion. "Laxus?"

"Come on!" the stranger yelled, but Mira wrenched her hand free.

"Go on without me! I'll be fine!"

"But—"

She turned with a smirk, fist held out confidently. "I'm a Fairy Tail mage, first and foremost! Go and take cover! I'll do something about this!"

The girl looked anything but convinced, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Mira had already made her decision, and she was not going to back down. Especially not if she had a chance to one-up Laxus in a mess he himself was involved with. There was no way she was going to lose to anybody, not Laxus and especially not Erza.

And just in case they were really in trouble… well. There was nothing wrong with bailing them out, just this once. Right?

* * *

Jared thought their plan was dumb.

Okay, so maybe he was being openly blunt in his head, but he wasn't enough of an idiot to actually voice it out loud. The boss was damn scary when he wanted to be and he'd learned over time not to stand up against it, otherwise his own ass would have to deal with the consequences, especially so if it was all for the sake of a plain stupid grudge.

But this plan was really, _really_ dumb and there was no going around that.

Who exactly thought kidnapping Karen Lilica of all people was a smart idea to get back at Blue Pegasus? For one, she was easily recognized, flaunting her reputation everywhere, there was probably no mage in Fiore who didn't at least hear about her. But even more importantly, she was damn terrifying. If he had to choose whose wrath he'd rather face, master's or hers, he wasn't quite sure, but he'd probably go with master. If only because he'd already witnessed the worst of it and was quite sure he'd take it better than whatever Karen Lilica could dish out if they managed to ruin her mood that bad.

He only wished his teammates were half as intelligent. Because then he wouldn't have been there, with them, stalking the beautiful chick while the sun was still high and in the middle of a town which hated their guts with a passion.

Not to be taken the wrong way, Jared loved his guild. He loved wrecking stuff, being the bad guy. He liked stealing, especially from those who had too much money for their fat asses. He liked the petty crimes and leaving graffitis all around the place. By a weird stroke of luck he'd found himself in the job and he'd thoroughly enjoyed it. But slowly, he was beginning to realize one big difference between him and the rest of his buddies.

He had self-preservation instincts kicking in whenever that voice he'd been snuffing out for years got a bit too loud.

Those other morons did not.

"Look, guys… I really think we should wait until she's at least in the forest. Then we can knock her out and leave no traces behind. If we make another mess here—"

"You heard the boss, Jared. So shut your trap and get on to it."

He cringed.

Now, this could be trouble. The reason?

Well, as much as he hated it, Jared was perfect for these kinds of things. Stealth and power weren't exactly his strong suits, given that his bright red hair stood out practically everywhere he went, but he had one talent and that came in perfect for dealing with unaware mages, no matter how powerful. In fact, more power to them, the stronger his little trick. The weakness, though? He couldn't aim for the life of him. Therefore… doing it in a town filled with people was possibly the dumbest plan ever.

"Seriously, can't we just wait at least until she's in an abandoned backstreet or something? What if she's not the only mage around here?"

His friend and partner in crime for over twelve years, ever since they'd been brats living in the streets, looked rather annoyed, as he clicked his brutish teeth.

"Oh man up, you've got this and you know it, or you would've never gotten this far. Why chicken out at the last minute?"

Okay, now that hurt. He came this far by thinking through things before messing everything up. But fine. If he wanted action, he'd get it. At least he wasn't considered the leader of this little sneaky mission, which provided him enough security in the back of his mind.

Jared straightened up and closed his eyes.

"Fine. Boss wanted flamboyance? He'll get flamboyance! By tonight, the entire kingdom will know that Karen Lilica could not beat a lowly thief."

He had to focus, eyes firmly shut. She'd been within his eyesight moments ago, so he knew where he was searching. And he felt it. A surge of magical power, quite above the norm, but not really as impressive as he'd expected it to be. He held his hand out and focused. Gather it. More.

Visualizing it as a mass of bright energy curling into a small ball made it somewhat easier, as much as the compression itself was draining him. Okay, maybe he did suck at this. But he didn't want to hit somebody else by accident, so smaller the ball, easier to just let it blow up in her face.

If Karen had felt her energy leaking out, she showed none of it. She didn't even move from her spot, which was all sorts of perfect for Jared. Her control sucked and it showed, given how much magic he'd gathered. Just a little more and she'd be done. So maybe he couldn't exactly use her magical power, but he couldn't contain it either. And he was far enough not to be caught in the explosion that was bound to happen.

But the power input suddenly increased and by much more than he'd ever been ready for.

"What the—!"

The words were out before he consciously even realized the problem. But his target had unconsciously shifted from Karen to another mage that couldn't be too far from her, but also had to be at least three times as powerful, if not more. His eyes snapped open, focus breaking, and the leash he had on the magical force snapped.

 _Well, shit._

Explosion rocked the street, shattering all the nearby windows and blasting even Jared backwards. Goddamn it, he was supposed to be on the safe distance!

Pain travelled up his back as he tried to get up, take in the damage he'd caused. Hitting the wall had been disorienting at best. Still, he managed somehow, at least until he was up on his elbows, face twisted into a grimace as he tried to ward off the pain. It eased up a little, after a few moments, enough for him to at least take in the sight of what he'd done.

And boy, was it a sight. The whole street was in shambles, many of the people knocked aside like dummies, several smaller stands in different stages of 'obliterated'. Many of his own allies had suffered too, others protected sloley by the fact they'd been hiding behind the wall.

"Holy shit," one of them muttered. "You overdid it, you moron."

"It wasn't me!" Jared protested. Like hell he'd ever be able to do this. Aside from his little trick, the only magic he could do was wind magic, but he'd never been very good at that. But what the… the power he'd drawn on was unlike anything he'd ever… he had to find this mage. Whoever it was, they couldn't have gotten away unscathed. The center of the explosion had been shifted to them and it had to be close, so he just had to look, look carefully, and he'd find it.

And so he did. Promptly, he felt his jaw hit the ground.

A girl no older than fifteen, wearing armor, but looking none worse for wear despite the people sprawled on the ground all over. The force of the explosion should have knocked her down completely, but no trace of it showed anywhere on her.

Jared stared. And after a moment, realized she was staring back.

"Hey, what the hell, Erza?" A kid, perhaps a year or two younger, yelled as he jumped on his feet, looking almost completely unaffected by the blast. Thankfully, he got her attention. "What's the big idea?"

"I didn't do anything. Are you alright, Natsu?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Sure felt like you did. What was that huge blast?"

And Jared froze in place, as her eyes once again landed squarely upon him.

"... Shit." She knew. How, it didn't matter. She knew and the look she was giving him made him feel bad for all the shitty things he'd done in his life. Damn it, that was a first. Was he going to die?

"You!" She snapped, pointing the sword his way. Wait, where'd the sword come from? Shit. "What is the meaning of this?"

"A-a-a… that… I mean…" he would have been running for his life, if only he'd had the guts or pain resistance to actually move.

"Oh hell, that's her!" One of his companions picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder, much to the tortured groan that escaped his lips. "Run! Assholes, run!"

They complied.

"Why the hell are we running?!"

"It's _her_ you moron!"

"What—who are you talking about?"

"Titania! Don't tell me you morons never heard about her?"

Jared felt his heart sinking, even as several of the men from his group remained blissfully ignorant. Running was not going to save them. Nothing was going to save them now. The mission was doomed.

"Abort mission," he groaned. "Run for your lives… Crawl into the darkest holes… just get us away from here!"

His desperate cry was met with a rather annoyed, "Shut it, I'm _trying_!"

Jared had to admit, the whole part of being carried on his friend's shoulder like a sack of potatoes sucked. His stomach hurt, he felt vaguely sick and whatever injury he had on his back wasn't letting up. Damn it. This was all his fault. He'd let his pride drag him in another mess and now he had no way out. Maybe he should retire. At the age of twenty two, he'd had a fun life. Not exactly perfect, mind you, but he'd ended off far better than he'd ever expected. Retirement sounded like a good plan. He'd go on a farm of some kind, find a grandma to keep him company while he mowed the grass and planted seeds for what would become a beautiful garden full of cabbage and tomatoes… Ah, what the fuck was he thinking? He _hated_ cabbage.

Then he realized, belatedly, that he saw no armored mage following them.

"H-hey…" he poked his buddy on the shoulder. "She's gone."

"Huh?"

"Titania is gone! She's not following us!"

His group slowed down, looking behind with the same kind of understated relief as Jared.

"Did we lose her?"

"Don't be stupid."

"Well she ain't there."

"Ahahahahaha! Got ya! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

And for the second time that day, Jared was blasted into a wall. His back was killing him, but at least he still had the feeling in his toes. God, if he lived through this, he'd never ever look down on disabled people again.

"This is it! This is them!" An elderly lady screeched, pointing finger right into Jared's group. What had him more than a little annoyed, however, was the fact she'd somehow come from the other side.

With a loud groan, he turned , only to see most of his group staring down an old lady, probably well in her seventies. And the person standing behind her…

Jared gave up on cursing. He didn't even know any curse word that could accurately surmise the kind of shit they'd found themselves in.

Of course he'd recognize the damn face anywhere, even if not for the scar that was a dead giveaway, the tall stature or the bright hair. Laxus Dreyar was famous for a lot of things, but kindness wasn't one of them.

"So you were the bastards that got away, huh?" He asked, sounding rather bored with the whole ordeal. "Seems like Natsu did you in pretty damn well."

"Oi! Laxus!" The pink haired brat from earlier squeaked. "They're mine! No stealing!"

"Sorry, brat. My request was rather specific in dealing with all of them, and these were the bastards that got away after I blasted their hideout. So technically, mine."

Jared would much rather face off the brat, if only because he was an actual kid. The explosion he'd caused kind of threw a damp in his plans of an actual fight, but anything was better than Laxus or Titania. And what was that about their hideout? Did somebody from town call in a guild or something? Well, too late to worry about that.

Although he didn't look too happy, the kid huffed and retreated, although the look on his face was downright vengeful. "Fine." And then he stalked off. For a moment, Jared thought he saw a blue cat land on his shoulder. Maybe this really was a sign he was going to die. He was seeing angels. Angels in the form of cats, but still angels.

At least the morons of his friends still refused to go down without a fight. Maybe he'd buy them all a meal in the next life. They were idiots, but even they knew they stood no chance against Laxus. It was at least nice knowing that even though he'd messed up, they'd refused to leave him behind. Yeah, the bastards deserved a meal for it. Maybe more than one.

Maybe that garden wasn't such a bad idea.

And then the lightning struck and all he knew was black.

* * *

After the blast had caused such a huge commotion, Erza had prioritized making sure that nobody was permanently injured. There were scraps, bruises, scratches and the like, but she'd taken the brunt of the explosion with barely a second warning of the incoming force, so most of the townspeople had only been knocked down.

She hurried up to help a nearby merchant whose stand had collapsed.

"It's fine, it's fine," he said, lifting up in a sitting position. She'd offered to check up just in case, before he directed her to another one, urging he needed more help over there. Looking to find a leg stuck under the damaged stand, Erza was inclined to agree.

She tuned out the shrieks of a green haired woman she walked past, when she noticed no visible injuries. As a mage, she should be able to take care of herself.

"Are you alright, sir?" She asked, bending down to help the elderly man, removing most of the huge debris from his leg.

"I'm just a little shaken up, nothing to worry about. But those guys from Ghoul Spirit had really done it, this time."

"Ghoul Spirit?" Erza repeated, then froze in recognition. "That dark guild. This isn't the first time?"

"Well, they'd been hanging around here for over a month now. This is the first time they'd made this big of a commotion, though."

An explosion echoed. Erza allowed a small smile, while the man tensed.

"I see. Well, Natsu went after them, so I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Oh. Then I suppose it's a good thing the Mayor's wife made that request. Mage guilds are far better at dealing with these kind of problems than the regular law enforcement."

She nodded. "That they are."

Another explosion echoed, followed by a pillar of lightning. Well, Laxus seemed to be on the task as well. Where had he come from? Although she wouldn't have been surprised if the entire town had seen the blast.

"I shall go now," she announced. "If you need any assistance, do not hesitate to call me."

"Heh, silly child. I appreciate the concern. You're not hurt, are you? You were standing near the place it went off."

Erza smiled, deciding that it might be better to keep the fact that the blast had been right above her head to herself. She was a little curious about that herself. "I'm perfectly fine. You have nothing to worry about."

And then she was on her way. It wouldn't do to have Natsu cause another problem, or Laxus even, if it turned out another guild had taken on the task of dealing with Ghoul Spirit. However, when she arrived at the scene, it was to find that Natsu and Mirajane had the similar expressions of annoyance on their faces, while Laxus was engaged in a conversation with an elderly lady, request paper dangling in his hand. Oh. So it had been one of their jobs to begin with. Good.

"Yo, Erza," Natsu quipped.

"What's with that expression, Natsu?"

"It's okay, Natsu," Happy told him, moving to stand in front of him. "You'll get them next time."

All it did was affect the look on his face, changing it from annoyed scowl to a childish pout. "... I wanted in on the action too," he grumbled. "This isn't fair. I don't get anything to do."

Erza opened her mouth to argue.

As if predicting what she was going to say, he snapped, "You did that too! Why couldn't we just threaten the guy into agreeing with the purchase to begin with? You were so against it but then you did exactly that!"

Erza's mouth closed. She took a moment to recover. "Don't be petty, Natsu."

"Yes!" Mira joined in, much to her irritation. "What's with you and Laxus always getting the best requests? I wanted to trash somebody too!"

"You're too weak, brats!" He threw over his shoulder. "Talk to me after you become an S-class mage. Till then, you've got no room to complain."

"Oh I will! _That_ I will!"

"Yeah! You'll see! I'll totally bust your ass!" Natsu yelled, looking very much as if that was what he wanted to do right now.

Erza had to let out a sigh. "Let's go, guys. It's almost sunset. We're supposed to meet with Meir and Gray and focus on what we're really here for." Well, now that they didn't have to worry about a place to sleep, after all. Meir had wanted some time to actually form a plan of some kind and rest, so Erza approved, if only because she was quite certain that searching for the Tower in the middle of the night was not going to be fruitful for anyone. Not that having a plan would hurt, either.

"So do I get to fight somebody there where we're going next?" Natsu wondered. "Tell me I do… This was boring."

Finding the right words to answer with was surprisingly difficult. Erza took a deep breath, suppressed memories sending a cold chill down her spine.

"I suppose so," she said, finally. Although she would have much preferred it if she were the only one who needed to deal with it.

He didn't ask more, and for that she was grateful. Even Laxus and Mira had not tried to question any further, and she wasn't sure if that was due to Meir warning them beforehand or them simply getting a good enough read of the situation. Either way, for now, it might be better like that.

Meir had already insisted he'd take care of it, and it brought a sense of relief, but also dread. So she had no intention of leaving anything up to him. It was her burden to bear, and the very fact he had anything at all to do with the Tower itself made her wary of the man. However he happened to know about it, at this point it made no difference, though. This was something she needed to finish herself, and she would only accept so much assistance.

She just hoped she would be strong enough.

* * *

"I see…"

"A problem, Jellal?"

"Ah, no. Nothing you should concern yourself with, Brain."

"Hm."

"Just thought for a moment I saw a familiar face."

"Oh, did you?"

"Unlikely. But I do think we should have made a stop by that stall earlier after all. Milliana has been pestering me for a souvenir for long enough."

Well, that didn't sound the least bit convincing. Oh well. He didn't really care. Just to make sure, though, maybe he should leave that thought projection behind. He would never mistake that face, but with Brain around, perhaps it would be a tad too reckless.

"Hmph." The elder man did not look too pleased. "You don't think you're giving them too much leverage?"

He shrugged, recognizing the opportunity for what it was. "As long as the work efficiency goes up, I see no issue with ordering a silly trinket. That reminds me."

Brain's eyebrows scrunched in displeasure as he noticed the figure walking past them, face hidden under the hood of a white cloak, but the looks, the build and even the intricate details were all perfect and, more importantly, perfectly solid. Blending in the crowd became surprisingly easy from there.

He didn't miss the annoyance as Brain chose to focus his eyes on other things instead, voice neutral. "Honestly, you exaggerate."

Jellal just laughed. "Perhaps so. But I see nothing wrong with improving abilities I will be relying upon in the future."

"Well, that at least is sensible enough. Do not allow your indulgence to slow us down, however. We have much work we need to finish."

That much was a given, of course. Although he was a little inspired to prod more, he'd hold back for now. Brain, at least, had the most unpredictable reactions so far, of all the people he'd associated with over time.

"Wouldn't dream of it."


	4. The Tower of Heaven - Adronitis

**Author's Note** : To the anon who asked about Lucy, this chapter should answer! Slower update this time, life's getting hectic. Hopefully next chapter will be done faster.

* * *

"I wonder if it was fireworks…"

"Young Miss, is everything alright?"

The young girl's head whipped around at the call, a little surprised, but she quickly relaxed as she realized that she was dealing with amusement, rather than concern of her caretakers.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." She gave the brightest smile she could muster, given the solemn mood that had settled over the carriage before they'd even moved out. "The Duke's mansion should be nearby, isn't that right?" But as soon as she said it, she felt even the false cheerfulness drain away.

"Ah, yes, Young Miss. We'll be there in a couple hours. That was why we didn't make an overnight stop in Hargeon."

"… yeah."

"Miss Heartfilia, is everything alright? Do you perhaps want something sweet to eat?" another voice chimed in. The elder lady walked in a moment later, a motherly smile on her face.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate it, Spetto-san!" This time the smile was honest. "I was just wondering if the town was preparing for a festival."

"I am not quite certain, myself. But if you wish for it, Miss, we could implore to Master Jude to make a stop in return. I'm certain he would have no reason to decline."

At that, the young girl's face lit up with much more enthusiasm. "Yes! I would love it, Spetto-san! Thank you so much!" Her head whipped back towards the lights at the shore in the valley behind them, face pressed to the glass window of the coach.

The lights near the shore flickered with life, illuminating the beach and the surrounding forest. From a distance, it looked like a cheerfully fiery community, probably enjoying all sorts of early autumn celebrations. The ocean glowed brightly under the moonlight, giving the landscape that much more brightness even in such late hours, as if welcoming the night travelers with wide open arms.

"Hargeon… really is beautiful at night." Her voice quieted down as she slowly leaned back in her seat. "Hopefully, dad will like it, too."

* * *

Propping himself on the nearest couch and letting out an exasperated sigh, Gray found that, much to his own surprise, he was _very_ annoyed with the latest developments.

They were all huddled in a tiny hotel room, consequence of Meir dragging them along for an long due strategy session, something he'd apparently deemed necessary in order for the whole mission to go without 'wasting time'. Gray was pretty sure that was just his way of making sure Natsu didn't blow a fuse because they hadn't had the money to afford the all-you-can-eat table, not that he'd really say it. He'd had enough arguing with the flame brain for the day and he was content to just lie back, relax and enjoy the ongoing banter between Mirajane and Laxus, started by a seemingly minor issue.

Naturally, things had deteriorated at breakneck speed and for once, Gray was glad that he was not involved in any way, shape or form.

Laxus looked much like a ticking time bomb, closer to blowing up with each word the fiery demon was shouting at him, going so far to poke him on the chest for every other word spoken.

"How come you're the one taking up an entire suite, just how fair is that? We all worked hard and now three of us are stranded in the same room! And you get a room all for yourself! Hey! Are you even listening to me?!"

He might have been pretending not to, what with his earphones and all, but the look on his face said he'd heard every single word, and he was not happy with the pressure he was being under.

"Ugh! Annoying bastard!" Mira snapped, hitting him on the shoulder. "Ever heard of the word teamwork? You're not the only one here, you know! Natsu and Gray at least helped with the cleaning!"

"Keep me out of this," Gray said, but mostly went unnoticed due to the intense staring contest currently going on between the two.

"Hands off me, brat," Laxus hissed.

It had the exact opposite effect.

"No way! I want a suit of my own! And a bath! Now!"

Erza coughed, looking up from the cake she'd somehow managed to sneak out of the dining area. When that did nothing, she let out a long sigh and raised her voice. "Mira, leave him alone. The money he used is what he'd earned for himself and you have no right to—"

"Damn right I have every right to! We're supposed to be a team, if only this once! So how the hell does he get a suit while we have to share a dusty dump?!"

Gray rubbed his forehead, glancing away and towards the other end of the room. How Natsu and Happy were managing to sleep through that, he had no idea. The pink head was simply sitting on the ground, dozing off with his head leaned against the armrest, while the blue fur ball calmly snored in his lap.

Then his eyes landed on Meir, who was still huddled over the tiny table, seemingly not at all bothered by the noise.

"Aren't you going to do something about that?" Gray asked, letting out a lazy yawn. His head was beginning to throb and he really wanted out of there as soon as possible. "Why is it taking you so long to plan this out, anyway? I thought you said this was gonna be pretty simple."

That finally seemed to get his attention, and Meir lifted his head.

Gray tried his best to ward off the sudden chill down his back. He knew he was being looked at, and he knew there _had_ to be eyes hidden under the weird hood, but the lack of anything visible left him feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Combined with Meir's general attitude and even calmer voice, it could get downright creepy at times.

"The plan itself is pretty simple," he said, after a moment. "It's not what we're going to do that has me worried, but what they might do in response to our actions. And for that, I need to be well prepared."

"Doesn't it come down to the same thing?" Gray asked, a little glad that his curiosity caught the others' attention as well, if the sudden silence in the other corner indicated anything.

"It's a little bit more complicated than that," Meir said, then finally dropped all the pretense of working on something, crumpling a paper and putting it somewhere in the inner pocket of his cloak. He seemed to be contemplating something, before he finally let out a sigh, as if he'd finally come to terms with something.

Gray didn't like it.

"You do realize we're waging a war here, don't you?" Meir asked.

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

Gray glanced towards Erza, the most potent source of it. Meir seemed to have caught onto it as well, judging by the resulting sigh.

"I guess I haven't articulated it very well. Waging a war is exactly what we're doing. Well, that said, we're not after the people in the Tower and they're no enemies. It would be best if we just had a way of getting them all out of there, but that is easier said than done. So we'll be dealing with those willing to fight back. And I assure you, it won't be that small a number."

Erza stiffened. "That—"

"They're not our priority, Erza." For the first time, Meir left no room for argument.

She retreated, but the look of steel determination on her face said exactly what her stance on the matter was.

Meir continued, undeterred.

"What we have to do is destroy that place, completely and utterly eradicate it, so that there's not even a speck of dust left. Just running around and blasting it isn't going to do much, so I've outlined the critical points that need we need to obliterate." He fished out another piece of paper from his cloak, before handing it over to Erza. "Pass it around. We'll first have to get people out of there, and there will be resistance. But this is the key to what we're going to do and—"

Words died in his throat, much to everyone else's confusion. Then he stood up and spun on his heel, arms spread, a roar tearing from his throat.

"Get down!"

Given that he was lying down and pretty damn comfortable, Gray didn't really get to do much to comply with the sudden order.

Maybe the fact he'd been lying was what saved him in the first place.

It came from the window, a flash of white, sudden and unexpected. The following blast knocked him down along with the couch. The air knocked out of his lungs, Gray struggled to lift himself up, coughing and struggling to see anything from the smoke.

The light had flickered out, and the last of flames, consequence of the explosion, were quickly eaten by Natsu, as he slowly pushed himself up on his knees. Well, at least the flame brain looked none worse for the wear. Gray never thought that would be a comforting thing, in any sense of the word.

"Hey, hey, what…"

Meir was the only one still standing, if it were something that could be called standing. He was on his knees, head bowed as he took a deep breath, his torso obviously having taken the worst of whatever that explosion had been. When he slowly stood up, there were no obvious injuries, despite the heavy damage his cloak suffered.

Gray blinked several times. Glancing aside had confirmed that even Laxus, one of their strongest, had ended up as a heap on the floor from the shockwave alone.

"Are you okay, Natsu? What was that? Explosion? Attack? Did they come to steal my fish? Why did they steal my fish?" Wings spreading wide and raising him in the air, Happy looked from one place to another, still looking drowsy

Train of thought lost, Gray turned around and dusted off his shirt.

Natsu's hand rested on his head, fingers scratching behind the ears. "Don't worry, little buddy. Nobody's here to steal your fish."

That must have been quite a wake up from whatever he'd been dreaming, given the look of panic on the cat's face.

"Relax." Natsu grinned at him, before turning to look at the place where the blast had come from. "But those were some pretty powerful flames, there."

"Is everybody alright?" Meir asked, dusting off the front of what was left of his cloak.

Gray was absolutely sure that thing was magical now. The shirt underneath had no traces of damage even though the cloak had a hole size of a tray.

"Yeah," Laxus grunted, shaking his head as he lifted up from where he'd literally squished Mira to the carpet in what must have been a last ditch attempt to shield her from the explosion. "Good enough to want to blast somebody's ass from here to Magnolia."

"That was completely uncalled for," Mira hissed, then coughed. "Tell me we're paying them back, and we're doing it now."

Erza dusted off her hands, armor present even though Gray was certain she'd had none just moments ago. There was a bundle of emotions raging in her eyes, many of which he'd never expected to find there.

Her fists tightened, as she took in the sight of the ravaged room. "This was no accident."

Meir stretched his arms and flexed his shoulder. "Of course not."

"And the only person who could do this…" There was anger in Erza's voice. So much of it, barely contained by the iron grip she had on her emotions, it made a cold chill run down Gray's back.

"This is our invitation," Meir said. "You've come to the right place, it's a pleasure to have you, it says."

"Well they've made quite a party for us," Laxus growled, flexing his shoulder. "They can't be thinking we'd be down from something like this though."

Natsu growled. "Of course not! This wasn't even worth our time. The real thing starts now. And we're gonna show 'em who they're messing with."

Meir pushed the blazing fists down before Natsu could set something on fire. "Of course. I hope nobody minds if we head out immediately. We can rest along the way."

"Don't be dumb. Like I'd ever want to wait for tomorrow to kick their asses," Mira said.

Gray nodded. "Me either. I doubt they'd let us rest in the first place."

"Obviously," Laxus agreed, eyes gleaming. "So we ought to show them how to party, Fairy Tail style."

"Right then," Meir said. "Fairy Tail, heading out."

"Aye sir!"

* * *

When Erza had agreed to lead the way to the Tower of Heaven, she did not have in mind stealing a hopefully abandoned boat and sneaking out of the Hargeon in the middle of the night.

"We'll return it," Meir had said, making sure to check the serial number, but she somehow doubted that.

Then there was also the fact that nights were _cold_. She might have been fine, and so were Gray and Natsu, and Laxus at least had the dignity not to whine about irrelevant things… but Mira was unstoppable.

"Couldn't you have at least picked a boat with a blanket?" she'd asked, arms wrapped around herself, as the wind whipped her hair. That was what she got, wearing such a revealing outfit now of all times.

"That doesn't even make sense," Gray mumbled. "Why would a boat have a blanket?"

"Shut up and put some clothes on! Or wait, no! You're fine as you are, I'm taking them!"

"What the hell? Give me my shirt back, Mira!"

"No way! You're the one who said cold never bothered you anyway! I'm keeping this!"

Erza shook her head. She would have demanded they stop with the immature behavior, if only she didn't have worse things to be concerned with.

"Why'd it have to be a boat?" Natsu choked out, in one of those rare moments where he actually dared to open his mouth. Then he once again bent over the edge, and sounds of choked gurgling filled the desolate area. Erza pulled him by the back of his shirt. The last thing they needed now was a man overboard.

"Horrible," Laxus grumbled under his breath, before turning on the other side. He'd been surprisingly quiet ever since they'd moved out, only with an occasional complaint or insult.

Meir, on the other hand, seemed to be lost in thought, even though he was giving it his all to help Erza navigate in the darkness. "Maybe I should have chosen Akane Resort after all. Hargeon is just that much farther away…"

"Why didn't you ever say that was an option in the first place?!" Mira exploded. "I would've picked Akane Resort over this any day!"

"There were no job requests," Meir explained simply.

"Well all the money we earned got wasted anyway!" she whined.

"She has a point there," Gray grumbled, unwillingly. "That damage in the hotel literally cost us everything we've got. And then some."

"There's nothing we can do about that now," Erza concluded. She was unwilling to admit, but she hadn't once thought about the amount of finances they'd need to make this trip an actual thing. "We'll just have to make do with what we have."

The unhappy silence befell the small boat in the vast seas, as they slowly sailed towards their destination, until Natsu's groans once again echoed throughout the night.

"Natsu, are you alright?" Happy asked, coming to stand beside the crumpled heap. "Do you want me to fly you up a little?"

"Y-you would do it, little buddy?"

"Of course!" Happy grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him off into the air as he slowly trailed after the boat.

Erza leaned back, watching the sight with a tiny smile, as Natsu perked up almost immediately, eagerly expressing his gratitude. "No matter how many times I see it, I simply don't understand."

"Yeah… Impressively stupid, how he gets sick. As usual."

Taking in the look on Gray's face, she laughed sincerely, for the first time since they'd left Magnolia. "Perhaps so. But it's not a bond that should be underestimated."

Gray snorted, but said nothing, as his eyes focused on the first signs of dawn in the horizon.

"How much longer?" Mira grounded out, teeth clattering.

Erza opened her mouth, but before she could explain, Meir cut in.

"A few hours. You can sleep if you want. Same goes for the rest of you. You too, Erza."

She tensed. "I thought you didn't know where the Tower is located."

"I could never point it out on a map. But navigating us there… I can handle it for now."

She lifted her head, eyes narrowed and, as she'd grown accustomed, there was no face for her to look at. This time, she only had the back of a burnt cloak to glare at and was much annoyed by the fact.

"How so?" she asked, arms crossed and voice low.

After a long moment of silence, he chuckled. "It is a long story. Do remind me to tell you some day, after we return to the guild."

"Why not tell me now?" she pressed instead, the urge to know burning up inside. It's been there since the beginning, but it was only now that it became a damning thorn in her side that she could not simply ignore. She needed to know. If only a little.

"Too early. But if you really want to know, I promise to tell you, after all of this is over."

"… You make a lot of promises, Meir."

The name as it rolled from her tongue was almost poisonous, not to mention that she as well as the rest of the guild were well aware it was not his real name to begin with. It made her feel uneasy, like he was holding back so many important things and couldn't care less about her opinion.

And as if to prove the point, he shrugged. "Perhaps so. But I have every intention to keep them."

"I will remember that."

"I certainly hope so."

Erza nodded, but his words did nothing to ease her frown as she chose to focus on the horizon instead.

* * *

"I'll protect them with my life. That's what I've come here to do."

That had been Meir's words before he'd picked up his children and left Magnolia, not two days after he first arrive.

Looking down at the small notebook he'd been given as a token of trust, Makarov let out a long sigh. Merely skimming through it had revealed quite a few names he was unfamiliar with, and many more he knew much too well. Fighting his curiosity until Meir's return was going to be a difficult task, that was for sure. The events mentioned inside had been both very informative and frustratingly vague.

Either way, until those could be addressed, all he had to worry about were the damage reports courtesy of the boys and required apology letters. Likely a headache, too.

The door of the guild snapped wide open, snapping him out of his reverie. Macao trotted in with a grin, waving some papers while flaunting around.

"What's up with ya?" Wakaba grunted, blowing a puff of smoke. "Hella cheery, ain't ya?"

"Reasons, reasons," Macao shot back, eyes searching the guild, until they descended upon Makarov. The man grinned wider. "Oh, master. Got somethin' for ya."

"I hope it's an autograph from a pretty lady," Makarov shot back, hoping nobody noticed that little wistful sigh. "Or a picture."

"Ya keep sayin' that. Sorry though, you're gonna have to keep dreaming."

The letter he handed over looked nothing like what Makarov was hoping for. And the mark in the corner shattered all his hopes. Throwing one quick glance inside told him all he needed to know, and he felt the last remnants of his youth drain out of him, the sole idea of what was waiting along the line very much ruining all the plans he'd had for the afternoon.

He almost started wailing like a baby.

Dear lord, no. He had more dignity than that. He was not going to break out in tears in front of so many of his children. Not so early in the morning. Maybe later, after some strong booze.

"Is something the matter, Master?" Lisanna asked, elbows leaning against the bar, head slightly tilted in concern. The cheeks were flushed and hair a mess, indication that she'd only just returned from her morning run in desperate need of water.

All of that went out the window when she noticed the troubled look on the poor old man's face. Lord, bless this girl. But he was not going to cry. As a highly mature and respected figure in this madhouse, he shall not allow his normally hidden and pathetic side to take over, no matter what the cause.

"Sir?" she pressed her lips together, looking very much as if she was one step away from chiding him.

Makarov took a deep breath, understanding that he was going to have to deal with this seriously. Lisanna has grown and matured, and no petty lies would distract a child so observant of other's feelings.

"Lisanna-chaaaaan," he wailed at the top of his voice, startling both the girl and the rest of the guild, before trotting over and burying his face in her waist like a child.

"Master?" she questioned, when his cries wouldn't let up. "What's—"

"They've gone and done it again, Lisanna-chan! Fifty thousand jewel! My precious fifty thousand jewel, and another apology letter!"

"There there, master," the thirteen-year-old said, a little awkwardly prying him away from her now soaked shirt. "At least it's not like the last bill Gildarts delivered. Who was it this time?"

Makarov sniffed, before his voice got higher in pitch. "Everyone! Meir and Erza! Gray and Natsu! Mira and Laxus! _All_ of them! Save me, Lisanna-chan!"

"Mira-nee?" she questioned, lip quirking in amusement, as she placed conscious effort into staying serious for his sake. Well, at least the long face was gone. She'd had it ever since Meir's group left without even a proper goodbye the previous day. "What did they do?"

Makarov pulled away, wiping the tears, but sniffed a couple more times for good measure. "Property damage, blown up windows, something about an explosion, I don't even know. Again. After I explicitly warned them not to cause any trouble. Meir, that bastard! He'd sounded so convincing when he'd said it'll be fine!" He continued to sob.

The girl looked momentarily stunned, before her lips quirked, again, then it turned into full blown laughter.

"Master, what were you expecting? Putting Natsu, Erza and Mira-nee in the same place at the same time?"

Well, she had a point there, and the fact there were reports at all was surprisingly reassuring. Not that he was about to tell her that. His own concerns should remain as such.

"But they promised!" he whined.

Lisanna just shook her head, struggling to stifle the giggles. "Calm down, master. It'll be alright. It's not that scary now, is it?"

"You think so?" he asked, his cries quieting down as he wiped his nose, much to the content of the rest of the guild. Most of them had looked rather annoyed with the poor act he'd put on, but nobody was going to call him out on that. Lisanna and Elfman needed some kind of reassurance after all the weird theories had been thought up about Meir, and nobody was going to interfere with that. Now, if only he'd known who had instigated them… He sent a suspicious glance Cana's way.

The girl was immersed in a game of cards, seemingly not at all aware of the ongoing commotion.

Lisanna giggled. "I'm sure of it, master. Do you need help with the apology letters? I'm sure whatever must have happened was not intentional, but if you need assistance, I'm gladly offering."

"Ah, thank you! Thank you, Lisanna-chan!" he quite literally squealed.

In the background, Wakaba winced. Macao laughed.

"But apologies, I will have to turn you down. It wouldn't do for an old man like me to take up your free time. Go and have fun. It's too early for you to worry about the annoying administrative stuff."

She smiled, and for a brilliant smile like that, all the embarrassing act had been well worth it.

"If it makes you feel better, Elf-nii and I can think of a way to prank them when they come back."

The mischievous glint lit in Makarov's eyes. Okay, he might be very much interested in this. "Oh, do you have anything in mind?"

"We have just the right one!"

Well, let her have her fun, he supposed. Mood significantly improved, Lisanna snatched that glass of water, drinking it all in one gulp before rushing out to find her brother. Liveliness was all well and good, especially if that little detail he'd caught in the trust token was true. He was going to have to grill the details out of Meir and fast, for surely that bit about this child's fate had to be a mistake.

As a matter of fact, he was going to have to grill Meir for a lot of things the moment he set foot in the guild building. He had promised he'd go into more details about everything, the moment he returned. And that had better be soon.

* * *

Mira had still been lost in the dream world when the first explosion echoed, forcefully waking her from her slumber. It was unfortunate too, the dream was so good. There was water, food and an incredibly modern hotel room and she'd been about ready to have the time of her life. Now? Not so much.

There was light stabbing in her eyes and the position she was lying in, while a little uncomfortable, was at least warm, something she hadn't felt in a while. If at all possible, she didn't want to move from there at all, curled in a ball as she was. Explosions were overrated anyway. There'd been a bunch of them yesterday alone and there were more important things in life after all.

The second time it echoed, it was followed by a sound of eerie cracking and splintering, something that forced her to crack an eye open.

"Why~?" she let out a low whine. It took less effort than attempting to ignore it, at either rate.

She must have interfered into an ongoing conversation of some kind, because the next thing she heard made no sense.

"Too late now! Gray!"

"On it!"

Before Mira could lift her head high enough to ask what that was all about, something hit the surface right below her, splitting the wooden surface under her—oh right, she was in a boat—in half and leaving a deep cut on her thigh. A hiss tore from her lips and she needed no more incentive to jump on her feet, then quickly lose balance as the boat split in half.

Taking in the situation, she realized that whatever it was, it had come fast, and out of nowhere. What looked like a giant octopus tentacle was engaged in a battle with Erza and Meir, who had managed to destroy several of its tentacles, if the floating mass of ugly green was anything to judge by. Laxus and Natsu were nowhere to be seen And slightly further away, Gray was standing on an iceberg.

"Mira!"

"I'm fine," she shouted back, but the boat was a wreck and sinking and at this rate it was going to take her along. The saltwater made the cut on her thigh burn as she dived in, legs kicking with all the strength she could muster. When she was sure she was far enough, she lurched out, taking in a lungful of air. Then she screamed. The gooey mass of green was all around her.

"Aaaagh! How the hell did we end up in this mess?"

"Sorry," Meir shouted back as he aimed a spell at another nearby tentacle. "I nodded off for a little too long. Only noticed they were onto us just now! Help Erza!"

The Take Over mage almost felt downright insulted at the idea, as she whipped around to see whatever it was that Erza herself was up to, when her eyes widened. Her sword was covered in icky green stuff that might have been blood, having easily sliced through the mass of flash. She was fighting in earnest, but there was sweat on her brow as she got rid of the final tentacle, then jumped in the water.

Mira let out a sigh of relief, but even though it was over, she still felt it; the strange feeling of foreboding, deep in the pit of her stomach. It sent chills down her spine. So that wasn't because of the ugly thing?

"Erza!" she called, part in alarm, part for no reason at all, reaching out the furthest she could as she tried to at the same time kick towards the redhead.

Then it happened, first the blinding light in the water, then the magical circle spread over the surface. Mira's eyes widened as she realized Erza was in the center of it. It looked nothing like Erza's magic.

"Erza!" she called, this time in alarm, legs kicking stronger.

The redhead noticed. Perhaps she thought it was Mira demanding help, which would have been embarrassing in any other situation, perhaps it was something else entirely. However, she reached out her hand as well.

"Mira!"

For merely a moment, the skin of their fingers connected, Erza's face scrunched in worry, much to other girl's surprise.

The magic circle lit up around them, light so strong Mira had no choice but to close her eyes or risk blindness.

The water disappeared around her and in an instant, she felt weightless. Then the instant passed and she collapsed down on the cold and hard ground.

"Aagh!"

The landing itself wasn't too hard, but she landed right on her injured leg, eliciting a painful gasp as she shifted until she was lying on her back. God, she really hadn't needed this.

Erza's groan had the honor of letting her know she wasn't the only one. Embarrasingly enough for Mira, the knight at least had way more dignity and pain tolerance, because a moment later, the redhead's frantic face was in view.

"Mira! Mira, are you alright?" she demanded.

God, why was she shouting? Couldn't she see that she was fine? Okay, that tumbling had hurt a little, but it wasn't as if she was that weak for a simple cut to cause such reactions. Erza of all people should know.

"This is insulting, I'm perfectly fine," she hissed, pushing herself on the elbows. "What's with that face? You're completely unlike yourself."

Erza looked momentarily taken aback. "I… I—"

But whatever she tried to say died on her lips when the sound of loud gasps for air reached them, and both their heads snapped in the same direction.

The boy… Okay, maybe boy was a wrong way to address him. He had both build and height easily rivaling even the bigger adults Mira had met during her short life, but his face still looked boyish enough. He couldn't have possibly been much older than her and Erza.

More urgent than that, however, was the fact that was on his knees, whole body trembling. Firm fists were the only thing keeping him upright as beads of sweat rolled from his forehead down to the metallic jaw, mouth wide open as he gasped for air.

Mira's breath hitched in her throat. "Teleportation magic?"

"What?" Erza shouted back. "But that's…" She looked too surprised to actually form coherent sentences. Well, that was a first.

Mira suppressed her groans as she forced herself to sit up. Whatever it had been, it had brought him to brink of exhaustion.

Despite the ripped muscles, his arms gave under him and collapsed back, almost to the point where he lay back on the ground, taking in shallow breaths of air. "I did it… I made it… in time…"

"S-Simon…" Erza's voice trembled. "H-how…?" She pushed herself up on her feet, outright ready to demand explanations, but her feet seemed to be wobbly. Hand covered her mouth, eyes welling up with tears. "Simon? Is that really you, Simon?"

He gave what might have been a tired half-smile.

"Erza, you know this guy?!" Mira outright screeched.

The sound of lazy footsteps, however, quickly had her redirecting her attention to the surroundings, the stone walls and cool chamber. It had been scorching hot outside in the sun, but despite the rays of sunshine even inside, the entire place held an unnatural chill.

In accordance with that, the figure that stepped of the nearby staircase had a coat seemingly perfect for the conditions. She would have teased the fashion sense had he actually bothered to take off the hood. As it was, she sincerely disliked the circumstances and strangers and the whole mess she'd gotten involved in.

"You did well, Simon."

His voice betrayed youth, one thing Mira had not been expecting. It sounded a little familiar to her ears as well, as if she'd heard it somewhere before. The clothing seemed to be high quality and new and he wore it with undeterred confidence bordering on exaggerated audacity.

Unlike Meir's hood, his wasn't there with the purpose of hiding his identity. If anything, it seemed like a fashion detail she would have called lame, if it weren't for the fact that the pair of freezing cold eyes was focused not on Erza, not on the big guy, but on her.

Belatedly, she realized that the whole place looked like some kind of a rundown stone prison.

"It appears we have an unexpected visitor… well, I suppose that is not too big of an issue. You're not leaving this place alive, anyway."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Mira hissed back, sounding a lot less ferocious than she'd intended. The dirt that had gotten in her cut was seriously beginning to itch. The whole place seemed ominous, things didn't make sense and the others were still fighting out there. And Erza… Erza had the strangest expression Mira had ever seen.

There was actually a tear trailing down her cheek.

The stranger seemed to pay it no mind, while he regarded with Mira with borderline annoyance. "It's actually very simple. Now that you're here, I can't let you leave. Don't take it personally. It's nothing you did, other than perhaps being at the wrong place at the wrong time." Hands resting in his pocket, he came to a stop right in front of Erza, a sinister smile stretching over his face. "It's simply a deal we've made, isn't that right, Erza?"

"J-Jellal…" Her voice trembled as she choked the word out, nails digging deep into the ground. "Jellal…"

Lip quirked in amusement, he bent down slightly. There was nothing friendly about the gesture. "It's been a while, Erza. Have you been well?"


End file.
